billy bob thornton
Billy Bob Thornton was a character actor and sometime screenwriter who took Hollywood by storm in 1996 with Sling Blade, a movie he wrote, directed and starred in. [1]
Billy Bob Thornton (born August 4, 1955) is an American actor, director, musician, playwright, and Academy Award -winning screenwriter. [2]
William Robert Thornton became famous by the name of Billy Bob Thornton in the mid-1990s after starring, writing and directing the 1996 drama film Sling Blade. [3]
One of Hollywood’s few celebrators of the “Southern bad boy” image, country musician turned actor-screenwriter-director “Billy Bob Thornton” consistently engenders a reputation — via chosen onscreen parts and fervent tabloid reports of his allegedly wild off-camera life — as an iconoclastic American hellraiser with lightning in his veins. [4]
Though he spent almost a decade struggling to make a name for himself, actor Billy Bob Thornton took matters into his own hands when he wrote, directed and starred in the career-making independent drama, ‘Sling Blade’ (1996), which earned the then-unknown performer an Oscar for Best Screenplay and another nomination for Best Actor. [5]
The American actor, screenwriter, occasional director and singer William Robert Thornton was born on the 4th August, 1955 at Hot Springs, Arkansas in the United States to alleged psychic Virginia Roberta & basketball coach and history teacher William Raymond Thornton nicknamed Billy Ray. [3]
Thornton’s screenplay earned him an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, a Writers Guild of America Award, and an Edgar Award, while his performance received Oscar and Screen Actors Guild nominations for Best Actor. [...] His rise to fame began in the mid-1990s, after writing, directing, and starring in the film Sling Blade, for which he won an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay. [2]
He was nominated for an Oscar for his role in A Simple Plan (1998, directed by Sam Raimi), he co-wrote the screenplay for The Gift (2000, with Cate Blanchett) and he directed Matt Damon and Penelope Cruz in the 2000 feature All The Pretty Horses. [...] But appearances can deceive, for Thornton also reveals depth and complexity as one Hollywood’s most articulate interviewees, graced with intelligent, sensitive observations, cultural allusions, and poignant reflections on his experiences as a thespian and film artist. [1]
Thornton was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas, the son of Virginia Roberta (n?e Faulkner), an alleged psychic, and William Raymond (Billy Ray) Thornton, a high-school history teacher and basketball coach. [2]
Oscar-winning actor/director/writer/musician Billy Bob Thornton was raised in Arkansas by his high school basketball coach father and psychic mother. [1]
Moreover, this acute insight evidences itself equally in Thornton’s craftsmanship as a screenwriter and director. [4]
After the success of Sling Blade Thornton moved into bigger budget movies such as Primary Colors (1998, with John Travolta) and Armageddon (1998, with Bruce Willis), and stayed busy on both sides of the camera. [1]
Thornton also performed as singer of the rock band Tres Hombres and bears the band’s name as a tattoo. [3]
Sources:
[1] Billy Bob Thornton: Biography from Answers.com
[2] Billy Bob Thornton - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
[3] Billy Bob Thornton .org - Biography, Pictures, Videos, & Quotes
[4] Billy Bob Thornton on MSN Entertainment
[5] Billy Bob Thornton - Yahoo! Movies